Sy Reene

It all still just sounds odd. Specs are tubeless tires, tubeless wheels, but you pick up the bike and there are tubes? And, sounding like it's an after-sale expense to convert the wheelset to actually running tubeless?

Ironfish653

Tubeless setups don’t like sitting for extended periods of time. Between shipping, distribution, and sitting on the sales floor, it may be months before the bike goes in to use with its eventual owner.
The sealant can settle and coagulate over that time, causing clogged valves, or otherwise not do what it’s supposed to do. Having to redo a dried-out, clogged up tubeless setup is far more work than yoinking out a tube and doing a fresh T/L install.

Also, the prospective buyer may not want to run T/L, even though the bike spec is “Tubeless Ready” I get very few flats, so tubes are “set-and-forget” for me. I personally would pass on a T/L conversion, although others may not.

That’s why a shop would wait to set up the T/L until just prior to delivery

TiHabanero

Yep, Ironfish653 has it right. Not odd at all, simply makes sense as a dealer has no idea how long a bike will sit on the floor or in back stock assembled and ready to go. In the rustbelt we assemble bikes all winter long, and then they sit until sold. Could be 6 months before the bike is sold, and having the sealant sit that long without wheel movement is not a good plan.

Sy Reene

I get what you're saying, but a bike in inventory doesn't need to have sealant or have the tires even inflated, and if being sold as TLR should have TL tape and valve ready to go. It shouldn't be charged as an after-sale conversion. In fact, converting a TLR bike to tubes should be the after-sale expense. Not a big deal really, I just find the circumstance a bit weird. Running a TLR tire with tubes is the worst combo possible yet it sounds like most bikes walk out the door this way?

TiHabanero

"Running a TLR tire with tubes is the worst combo possible yet it sounds like most bikes walk out the door this way?"

Depends upon the customer request. If the customer requests the bike be set up as tubeless, then once it is paid for the mechs set it up. Some bikes do not come with tubes and are intended as tubeless, some come with tubes and are sold as "tubeless ready". That term is used in the promotional materials to signal to the consumer that the tire/rim is compatible with tubeless set up. It does not mean the bike is sold setup as tubeless.
Yes, it seems odd to an outsider of the industry, but it make sense to those that are in it. About 90% of customers choose tubes over tubeless in our stores. They understand tubes and for the most part customers don't have issues with flats. We do get a small amount of customers that convert to tubes after trying tubeless and failing at the maintenance they require over the course of a year or two, or after they deal with having to remove the tire, clean it out/retape and reseat/reseal it on the rim.
It is not suitable or everyone that is for sure, thus the industry is not putting tubeless ready on all models. In goat head country or on roads where there is a lot of debris causing flats there are advantages to tubeless.

Rolla

Tires need to be inflated for a test ride. No shop wants bikes on the floor with flat tires.

Yet thousands of bikes have been sold, ridden, and even owned this way, with few if any repercussions.

You've been shown myriad reasons for why the practice exists and continues, all of which make perfect sense and ultimately better serve both the customer and the shop. This may be one of life's little peculiarities that you'll just have to accept.

Sy Reene

If I had no desire to run tubeless and want to run tubes, I'd be better served if the Trek shop substituted the R3 hardcase TLR tires with R3 hardcase nonTL tires. The practice as it exists seems to make it easier and cheaper for the shop, not better for the customer.

Rolla

And you should certainly feel free to ask the shop to switch your tires prior to delivery. Tubeless or otherwise, it's a very common and easily-accommodated request.

Since there's apparently no convincing you, I'll leave it at this: In all my years working in bike shops, I have yet to sell a bike that couldn't be set up to the customer's preferences, and I've never once had a customer complain because he or she was given options. The less that has been pre-decided at the factory, the easier it is to make changes, and it gives the customer more say in the specifics.